NFC Hierarchy/Obituary with Week 8 in the books

The Rams are better than I thought they'd be this season as new head coach Jeff Fisher has brought some legitimacy to St. Louis, but they're still far away from being contenders. The defensive line looks like it could be a force, and the secondary is vastly improved. However, their offense is still a mess, particularly along the offensive line. They'll have an extra first round pick in each of the next two years, courtesy of the Redskins. If they do a good job in the draft, this could be a very good team in the next 2 or 3 years. The Rams have 8 more games to make the following graphic look a little less awful:

The Graveyard:

Life Support:

13. Opposing offenses have a passer rating of 110.6 against the Saints this season. If they continue on that pace, only the winless 2008 Lions will have been worse (110.9). Additionally, they're allowing 9.1 yards per pass attempt this season. That's beyond gross. Last season, Aaron Rodgers threw for 9.2 yards per attempt. That was the first time a QB went over 9 yards per attempt since 2004, when Peyton Manning did it. Aaron Rodgers was the NFL MVP in 2011. Peyton Manning was the NFL MVP in 2004. It's almost like the Saints are making every QB they face look like the MVP versions of Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning.

Last week: 12

Continued...

12. The 1986 Eagles gave up an absurd 104 sacks. That is by far the most in NFL history. The next closest team is the 1997 Cardinals, who gave up 78. This 2012 Cardinals team is on pace for 78 as well, and they've given up 25 over their last 4 games. Think the current Eagles' offensive line with three backups playing is bad? Hard to imagine, but it could be a lot worse.

The Cardinals' next two games:

At Green Bay

At Atlanta

Ouch.

Last week: 11

11. Interesting fact from CSN Washington's Rich Tandler: In each of the last four seasons, the Redskins have gone 2-6 over their last 8 games. The Redskins were never really going to seriously compete for anything close to a Super Bowl run, but this season has to viewed as a win, with the emergence of an offense that should be difficult for the NFC East teams to deal with over the next decade. Robert Griffin III is going to walk away with Rookie of the Year honors, and rookie RB Alfred Morris was an amazing find in the 6th round. But one more loss and we can officially bury the Skins for 2012.

Last week: 8

Hierarchy:

9. The Vikings won with smoke and mirrors early in the season, but wow, they simply looked downright terrible at home last Thursday against a bad Buccaneers team. An offense certered around throwing passes behind the line of scrimmage to Percy Harvin and hoping he can make the entire defense miss is not a sustainable one in the NFL.

I noted the Vikings' schedule last week, and I'll do it again here. They have a brutal slate of games after their bye week, so they really needed to stockpile as many wins as they could before they entered that stretch. Their embarrassing loss to the Bucs was a major missed opportunity:

Last week: 6

9. All three of the Lions' wins this season have come via a score with less than a minute left to play. They scored a TD with 10 seconds left Week 1 to beat the Rams. They kicked a FG with 3 seconds left to go to OT against Philly, before kicking a game-winning FG in OT in Week 6. And then last week, they scored with 20 seconds left to beat the Seahawks. Nice resiliency by the Lions, but playing terrible football for 3.5 quarters before figuring things out is not going to beat good teams in the NFL.

Last week: 14

8. “We have the talent. We just have to do a better job.”

- Andy Reid, after the embarrassing loss to the Falcons last week.

Eagles defensive linemen can't win matchups against opposing offensive linemen anymore. Certain defensive backs can no longer keep up with some of the faster NFL WRs. The QB is having a dreadful season. Receivers are dropping passes. The offensive line can't block anybody. Maybe they're just not all that "talented."

Last week: 7

7. I'll say this for the Cowboys... They may not be very good, but they don't quit.

The Cowboys' final drive a few weeks in Baltimore was both awful and awesome. The Cowboys would repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot, and then somehow recover.
Tony Romo gets a lot of flack, and deservedly so on many occasions, for making major errors in close games. In that game, however, it should be pointed out that he was excellent. Look at what he had to overcome on that final drive alone:

And then the kicker misses the go-ahead FG attempt.

Then this past weekend, they face a 23-0 deficit against the Giants, only to take the lead before eventually losing when Dez Bryant's fingers landed first out of bounds on a Hail Mary:

The Cowboys keep finding new and interesting ways to lose games.

Last week: 10

6. I really didn't know who to put 6th. The NFC is extremely strong from 1-5, and then there's an enormous dropoff from there to teams with major flaws. The Seahawks are 8 games deep into their season, and have only played 3 at home. The rest of their scheudle is very favorable, with 5 remaining games at their loud stadium, and they still have their bye week:

The Cowboys and Seahawks each move up 3 spots, despite losing. I'm aware that makes no sense. Apologies in advance.

Last week: 9

5. The Bears' defense has 6 touchdowns this season. Eagles wide receivers have 4. More praise for the Bears D:

They're giving up 14.3 yards per game. That's 2nd to the 49ers.

They're 2nd in the NFL in takeaways, with 23. The Giants have 24.

They lead the league in rush D.

They've given up just 1 rushing TD. The Texans are the only team that has been better. They've given up none.

They've given up the 3rd least amount of first downs on the ground.

Tied for first with the Giants with 16 INTs.

Opposing QBs have a QB rating of 62.0 against the Bears.

Remember above, when I talked about the Saints' defense:

"It's almost like the Saints are making every QB they face look like the MVP versions of Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning."

Well... It's almost like the Bears are making every QB they face look like John Skelton.

Last Week: 5

4. The NFC North might be the only interesting divisional race as we head into the second half of the season. The Giants and Niners are clearly the class of the NFC East and West, respectively, and the Falcons had the NFC South wrapped up a few weeks ago:

The Packers, while 1.5 games behind the Bears, are playing like the team that went 15-1 last season after getting off to a slow start (and perhaps a robbery of a game in Seattle).

Last Week: 4

3. The Niners are not a team you want to play after they lose. When they lost to the Vikings early in the season, they allowed 3 points over the next two weeks. After they lost to the Giants in Week 6, they allowed just 9 points over the next two weeks.

Last week: 3

2. Dez Bryant's non-TD was the equivaLent of a long foUl ball. Still, the Giants' seCondary needs to maKe improvements, or their "You know what" could run out.

Last week: 2

1. The 1972 Dolphins aren't exactly quaking in their boots right now, but the Falcons remain undefeated. Lost among the mess that the Eagles were last week, this team dominated.